High Sierra Topix

First off, thanks to everyone for the good advice on October trip planing. We had an amazing time!


The rout and group came together last minute but the result could not have been better.


Meet the group! - Trisha (front) 21, grew up in Japan, 0 backpacking experience but a strong runner and she came with a great attitude!
- Me (back left) 23, my second trip to Emigrant.
- Luke (back center) 21, plenty of experience but first trip in the Sierras. grew up in Germany before moving back to the states. Left home at 15 and road a Harley across the country twice so he knows how to live out of a backpack. Marathon runner and the highest ranked ROTC cadet on the west coast for physical ability.
-Riley (rear right) 20, second ever backpacking trip and first to the Sierras. Came back from this trip completely hooked and is making an HST account this minute!


Woke up at 4:30am to breakfast burritos that Luke had just finished making for the group. What a great roommate and backpacking partner!

Got to Pinecrest ranger station at 8:30am for our permit and low and behold my parents and dog had just pulled into the parking lot to surprise us. They had been camping for the past 3 weeks and spent their last night on the east side of 108.

Got boots to the ground at Crabtree at 11am and quickly blew all my previous speed records out of the water. These military kids are fast!
Made great time along Bell Meadow trail but slowed down significantly once we turned off right down the west fork of Cherry Creek and the trail more or less disappeared.
(Climbing up to Rosasco was brutal after 9 miles of quick stepping but we got it done!)
Amazing campsite was waiting for us at the west side of Rosasco when we arrived around 4pm.
Riley built some very nice benches (how do people feel about bench building around fire pits? Poor form as far as LNT?)

(Luke's early morning routine always started by reading Muir and making coffee for everyone before we woke up)

Immensely enjoyed our next day’s short hike to Big Lake. Those uninterrupted granite slopes did not disappoint!

Nice Trip, Aidan and Friends.
Great photos! I hope there's more coming. Seems like you've all combined as a great crew. That granite walking looks amazing. I'll weigh in on your query re. building camp structures. It can be fine if you choose your materials with care, not to disturb creature's habitat, or create erodible surfaces. I always try to put everything I build back right where it came from. The goal to leave no trace can be a fun effort.
We had to work pretty hard last trip to undo someone's overly ambitious campfire ring and benches, at an illegal elevation for fires too. What a drag.

Speaking of the fire regs, you might've been fine and legal, but you may have been in the area where fires are restricted till November. I'm sure a wilderness guy like you Aidan knows how to keep a fire safe, but take care to know the rules or it might cost you.

I am happy for you all; it's cool you're both inspiring each other, and turning friends onto the wilderness. It's a love affair that never ends.

Hi Aidan

Great trip! That's an area we love. I just did some restoration work in the Stanislaus National Forest with a bunch of real old-timers---and we all raved about that great granite before Big Lake.

I do want to second Harlan's suggestion about campsite furniture. Put it back the way you found it. Much of our work in the backcountry with trail crews consists of removing illegal campsites and restoring legal campsites to a more natural state.

Fires in Emigrant Wilderness are allowed right now, primarily because the massive amounts of granite make it a low fire hazard area. But do be careful, and make sure you put it out totally--cold to the touch!

Part two!

Was pretty much off trail the whole way to big lake but still made pretty good time. Found the fantastic camp recommended.
(Final decent to Big Lake. Group was impressed)
(Luke had spent the summer in Alaska catching and smoking salmon which was a big hit with the group!)

(Sunset at the outlet of big lake, who need Yosemite when you could come here!)
Lots of rock jumping as well as a frigid swim to the islands in the lake commenced.
Invented a version of “janga” we called “cairnage” where each player adds another rock until someone can’t stack anymore and as punishment must help to lighten the whisky flask.

The weather felt much warmer than we had been expecting, more like high 30s than high 20s. We never woke up to any frost even when getting up before sun rise. Hardly a breath of wind day or night. After night one we slept every night with the rain fly off and my bag unzipped. But man those lakes where a lol colder now than in July!

This was also the first real test of my new Big Agnes Copper Spur 2 tent. Amazing bit of kit.
Next day’s hike up the slab to Pingree was steep! Had lunch and a power nap at Gem before a beautiful late afternoon descent to our last night’s camp at Piute. (where we saw our first and only other human in 4 days on the trail)

Overall a fantastic trip with little room for
improvement.

That looks epic. I wish I didn't have to feed the rat so much, so I could slow down and enjoy a trip like that.

Also: Y U so young?!

Looks like you all had a great time, and you did a good job of capturing the joy and fun of backpacking in your photos. Thanks for sharing!

c9h13no3 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 20, 2022 12:56 am Also: Y U so young?!

Gotta start sometime!

How wonderful! The four of you look so happy, and you were wandering through one of my favorite areas! The slabs between Pingree and Big are breathtaking. Coming over the lip and looking down on Big is quite the "reveal!"

Now, after your report and WD's, I am beginning to think about Emigrant in a new way. Emigrant has always been my late May early June destination, and I had never considered it for late season. I think I need to revise my thinking.

Was there any wading involved in getting across the W Fork to start up to Rosaco? Or was this basically lake-to-lake hiking, without intervening water?

Late in the season, crossing the West Fork is a piece of cake. Most years, there is almost no flow in the river--it's easier to find a place to hop across than it is to find flowing water!

Emigrant is one giant granite bathtub. There is no place for snow or water to linger. When it melts out, it really melts out...

Looks like you'll had a great time !! I was just there 2 weeks ago and did the same trip. I love that area. I was in my tent on the 2nd night at my camp at Big lake, when I heard some loud Yahoo's come in on the other side of the lake. After loud talking and laughing, to my horror , they shot off some fireworks, like bottle rockets off !!! So dangerous , with the wildfire situation and not to mention how rude for others camped there. Other than that incident, the campsites I came across in the area were all pretty clean and legal. Great place to visit !!!